- Vayikra / Leviticus 9:1-11:47
- Yechezekiel / Ezekiel 36:16-38
- Ma’asei Talmidim / Acts 10:9-22, 10:34-35
Vayikra{11:1} HaShem spoke to Moshe (Moses) and to Aharon (Aaron), saying to them, {11:2} Speak to bnei Yisrael (the children of Israel), saying; These are the living things which you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth. {11:3} Whatever parts the hoof, and is cloven-footed, and chews the cud, among the animals, that may you eat. {11:4} Nevertheless these shall you not eat of them that chew the cud, or of those who part the hoof: the camel, because he chews the cud but does not have a parted hoof, he is tam’ei (unclean) to you.
Vayikra{11:9} These may you eat of all that are in the waters: whatever has fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, that may you eat. {11:10} All that do not have fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of all the living creatures that are in the waters, they are an abomination to you, {11:11} and they shall be an abomination to you; you shall not eat of their flesh, and their carcasses you shall have in abomination. {11:12} Whatever has no fins nor scales in the waters, that is an abomination to you. {11:13} These you shall have in abomination among the birds; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, and the gier-eagle, and the osprey, {11:14} and the kite, and the falcon after its kind, {11:15} every raven after its kind, {11:16} and the ostrich, and the night-hawk, and the seamew, and the hawk after its kind, {11:17} and the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl, {11:18} and the horned owl, and the pelican, and the vulture, {11:19} and the stork, the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe, and the bat. {11:20} All winged creeping things that go on all fours are an abomination to you.
As you have read, in this week’s Parasha HaShem instructs us on what is and is not edible food for us. He specifically lays out those animals, fish, birds and insects that can be eaten and which ones are not to be eaten by humans, particularly any person who is called by His name (that means believers in Yeshua HaMashiach). However, many have questioned the present day validity of this list. They basically declare that because of the writings of the Brit Chadasha (Renewed Covenant) we are no longer under these Torah stipulations. One of the passages of Scripture they offer as their proof text is the following:
Ma’asei HaTalmidim (Acts of the Apostles){10:11} and he beheld the sky opened up, and a certain object like a great sheet coming down, lowered by four corners to the ground, 12 and there were in it all kinds of four-footed animals and crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the air. {10:13} And a voice came to him, “Arise, Kefa (Peter), kill and eat!” 14 But Kefa said, “By no means, L-rd, for I have never eaten anything unholy and tam’ei.” {10:15} And again a voice came to him a second time, “What G-d has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.” {10:16} And this happened three times; and immediately the object was taken up into the sky.
The fact is that this passage of Scripture has nothing to do with Kosher (proper/fit) food or the abolition of the dietary laws – the very ones outlined in this week’s Parasha. If you carefully check the context of this passage you will see that the vision Kefa (Peter) received was as a result of what was taking place in another area of the country.
Ma’asei HaTalmidim {10:1} Now there was a certain man at Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian legion, {10:2} a devout man, and one who feared G-d with all his household, and gave many donations to the Jewish people, and prayed to G-d continually. {10:3} About the ninth hour of the day he clearly saw in a vision an angel of G-d who had just come in to him, and said to him, “Cornelius!” {10:4} And fixing his gaze upon him and being very alarmed, he said, “What is it, lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and donations have ascended as a memorial before G-d. {10:5}“And now dispatch some men to Yaffo (Jaffa), and send for a man named Simon, who is also called Peter; {10:6} he is staying with a certain tanner named Simon, whose house is by the sea.”
As we can see Kefa was about to be introduced to a Roman Centurion who was soon to come to salvation. However, according to the Judaism of that day, Jews did not have fellowship with non-Jews — let alone enter into their homes! In fact, it is still practiced today among certain ultra-orthodox sects of Judaism. Therefore, HaShem had to show Kefa that He was not only to bring Jews to salvation, but non-Jews as well. HaShem was making out of the two nations one new man. HaShem was letting Kefa know, through his vision of the descending sheet, that He was saving those who were previously called unclean by Jews and thereby cleansing certain people of the nations. Kefa was to no longer consider non-Jewish believers unclean and thereby exclude them from fellowship with other Messianic Jewish Believers. Kefa realized, in the end, that the vision was not about food, but about non-Jewish salvations. This purpose becomes obvious when we read about what Kefa said to the Centurion upon entering his house:
Ma’asei HaTalmidim{10:28} And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him; and yet G-d has shown me that I should not call any man unholy or unclean. {10:29} “That is why I came without even raising any objection when I was sent for. And so I ask for what reason you have sent for me.”
Ma’asei HaTalmidim{10:34} And opening his mouth, Kefa said: “I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, {10:35} but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right, is welcome to Him.
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